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Jefferson Parish Council awards $1.8 million in work to company in ethics investigation

JP COUNCIL GRAND ISLE.jpg

The Jefferson Parish Council approved awarding three contracts to the engineering and consulting firm G.E.C. Inc., despite an ongoing investigation by the Parish District Attorney.
(Adriane Quinlan, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

The investigation began in March, after a GEC secretary solicited a meeting for her boss with Councilman Mark Spears Jr. in exchange for a campaign contribution. Spears took the secretary's email to the Governmental Ethics and Compliance Audit Committee, which ultimately decided not to act, deeming it an instance of a company employee acting alone and not part of a corporate ethical breach. (See the documents that the committee used as evidence.) The committee could have recommended that the council terminate GEC's contracts.

Parish Attorney Deborah Foshee said that the district attorney's office is looking at Mizell as an individual, but she did not know how prosecutors would proceed. Assistant District Attorney David Wolff wouldn't discuss details on the inquiry, saying only: "We have no specific timeline."

GEC already holds 15 parish contracts valued at more than $40 million. At the ethics committee meeting, council members balked at terminating them because the company employs local residents and because cancelling its work would stall progress on public projects.

In the past two years, GEC has made $19,850 in campaign contributions to six council members -- all but Lee-Sheng -- and Parish President John Young. In 2011, the firm gave $1,000 to state Rep. Patrick Connick, R-Harvey, brother of District Attorney Paul Connick Jr.

On Wednesday, the council extended three of GEC's existing contracts for two more years to provide surveying, electrical engineering and traffic engineering services on an as-needed basis. The price for surveying is capped at $200,000 annually, for electrical engineering $500,000 annually, and for traffic engineering $200,000 annually.

Margaret Baird, chairman of the Citizens for Good Government, objected to extending the agreements. "We believe there should be some penalty for the action of GEC's employee, even if she was acting without the approval of GEC's officers."

The council put off a decision on awarding a new contract to GEC, to design and build decorative lighting on a stretch of Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie. It may consider the award on Aug. 14.

GEC was the highest-rated firm competing for the job, scoring four points more than the No. 2 firm on a scale with a maximum 408 points, said Margie Seemann, vice-chairman of Citizens for a Good Government. But council Chairman Chris Roberts said the administration advised the council to wait for "word back" from the district attorney's office before giving new jobs to the company.